


Gingerbread Latte

by NikAdair



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: College Students Lance and Hunk, barista keith, coffee shop AU, pre-klance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-03
Updated: 2018-12-03
Packaged: 2019-09-05 18:47:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16816366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NikAdair/pseuds/NikAdair
Summary: Lance walks into a coffee shop early one November morning and finds something more than just the coffee to be appealing.





	Gingerbread Latte

The smell of freshly roasted coffee wafted through the open door of the shop into the cold November morning. It was a pleasant smell, mixing with the scent of the morning dew coming from the flowers that hung from the overhang. The sun had barely risen, flooding the sidewalk with a grey light that mingled with the bright yellow lights coming through the open door and windows. The warmth of the coffee shop was inviting, and was hard to resist on a morning like this.

Lance closed his eyes as the warmth engulfed him, causing him to stand in the doorway for a moment. The spice of cinnamon, the hazelnut scent coming from the holiday specials, the bitter scent of coffee – it wrapped around him and clung to his clothes. A satisfied sigh escaped from him as he opened his eyes, a smile forming. He turned his gaze to a table near the window, finding Hunk sitting amongst a pile of books and his laptop.

He made his way over, unraveling the deep blue and black striped scarf from around his neck. A small toss left the scarf flying through the air for a second before it landed on the laptop in front of Hunk. His head jerked as his hands stopped moving, turning his head to look at Lance. Lance gave him a smile, taking the empty chair next to him and turning it around, throwing his legs around the back.

“Hunk, my studious friend, what’re you working on?” he asked, crossing his arms on the back of the chair as he peered at Hunk’s laptop. A mass of text greeted him, multiple windows open. A podcast could be heard coming from the headphones around Hunk’s neck, having been discarded to listen to Lance.

“Finals Lance. Gotta start studying early, cause you know how things get this time of year.” Memories of past years flashed in Lance’s mind - teachers piling tests on every week, due dates of papers passing by in a blur, the nights of very little sleep and endless amounts of junk food a very prominent one in his mind. He shivered just thinking about it.

“Yeah, definitely not something to put off.” Lance shrugged his coat off as his bag hit the floor with a dull thud. He winced for a second as he remembered his laptop was in it, but didn’t check it. He’d done worse and it had yet to break. He saw Hunk nod at him before turning back to his laptop. The smell of coffee surrounded Lance again, and he wandered over to the counter.

He scanned the menu as he got there, not entirely sure what he wanted. Part of him wanted something sweet, but another part of him wanted to try a holiday drink. The only thing he was settled on was that he wanted something warm. He was silently debating in his head when the barista came over to him.

“Figure out what you want?” a male voice said, the obvious tiredness prevalent in it. Lance moved his gaze to look at him, a comment on his tongue. But as his eyes hit the boy’s, his words died. The boy in front of him was the prettiest boy he’d ever seen - long black hair pulled back into a ponytail, deep blue-grey eyes set into an angular pale face, as though this boy hadn’t seen the sun in a while. His mouth was set in a slight frown as he looked at him.

Lance wasn’t fully aware of how long he’d been staring until the boy in front of him cleared his throat, an air of uncomfortableness coming from him. He shook his head slightly, coming back to the real world. “Uh, yeah. Can I get a venti gingerbread latte with whipped cream?” Lance said, trying to keep himself from staring at the boy. The boy nodded, and he took out his wallet, handing him the money to pay for the drink. He caught a glimpse of the boy’s name tag, and smiled a little.

“Keith, huh? That’s a pretty cool name.” The boy - Keith - looked up from the register, a slight blush on his face. Lance smiled more, a small chuckle escaping him. Keith bit his lip as he pulled out a cup and a Sharpie.

“What about you? What’s your name?” Keith said. His face lit up red a second later as he stumbled over his words before Lance even got a chance to answer. “For the cup! I need to write it down!” He laughed a little at Keith. _He’s actually pretty cute when he’s flustered._

“The name’s Lance,” he said with a wide smile, watching as Keith quickly wrote his name on the cup. Though he didn’t particularly care how the drink was made, he stayed near the counter while Keith worked. It was a curious thing, the fact that this boy chose to wear gloves while he worked, and the brief thought of wanting to know what his hands looked like without them crossed his mind, though Lance was quick to dismiss it, carefully hiding the blush that formed.

The spice of gingerbread wafted through the air, mixing with the sweetness of the whipped cream. It was a tantalizing smell, and took over Lance’s thoughts, temporarily making him forget about the cute boy in front of him. He closed his eyes to get a better sense of the smell, and only opened them again when he heard Keith clear his throat.

Keith looked at Lance with a curious look in his eyes, despite the neutral look he had on his face. The drink sat between them, heat radiating from the top of the cup. “Uh, your drink is ready,” he said, his voice quiet, as though he were embarrassed to say anything. It made Lance smile, and made him think again about just how cute Keith was.

He pulled the cup towards him, taking a drink and sighing happily at the warmth that spread throughout his body. The sweetness of the whipped cream hit his mouth first, coating everything before being overwhelmed by the spice of the gingerbread. He could taste vanilla, a background note to the drink. There was a bitterness in it, most likely from the espresso. The combination of all these flavours was a perfect match.

 _A perfect match, hm…_ Lance set his cup down, getting a confused look from Keith. He could see worry in his eyes, worry that he might’ve messed up the drink. Lance sent him a reassuring smile, which changed the worry into confusion. He couldn’t help but laugh a little. Keith frowned a little at him.

“You are seriously the most confusing person I’ve met,” Keith said, crossing his arms over his chest. Lance just grabbed his cup, winking at him as he turned and walked back to the table that Hunk was at. He didn’t need to look at Keith to imagine the blush he had on his face and the flustered look he had. But just to confirm his suspicions, he did, seeing that exact image.

He sat down in the abandoned chair from earlier, taking small sips of his drink as he watched Hunk work. Lance knew he should be studying too, but he didn’t have the motivation to. Instead, he pulled out his phone and continued the book he was reading. Hunk glanced over at him, and Lance saw him roll his eyes a little. He showed him the screen of his phone and got a less annoyed look in return.

Sunlight slowly started to filter into the coffee shop, mixing with the fluorescent lights hanging from the ceiling. Shadows were cast on the floor as light shone through tables and chairs. Hunk adjusted his stack of books to block the sunlight, and Lance squinted as he looked outside. He looked back at the screen of his phone, looking at the time.

“Oh my god! I’m going to be late for class!” Lance grabbed his bag, nearly toppling out of the chair as he stood. Hunk gave him a started look and he gestured for him to take his headphones off. “I’ve gotta go or I’m going to be late.” Hunk nodded, chuckling a little as Lance walked towards the door. He stopped before he opened it, a split second decision being made in his mind.

He walked towards the counter, slamming his hands on it. Keith jumped at the noise, turning around quickly. “What’s wrong?” he asked, a hint of worry in his voice. Lance reached over the counter and pulled the sharpie from the front of Keith’s apron, yanking his hand towards him. Keith jerked forward, catching himself on the counter.

“What are you doing?” Keith asked, looking as though he was going to pull his hand back any second. Lance didn’t pay him any attention as he tugged off the black glove that covered his hand. He pulled the lid of the sharpie off and flipped Keith’s hand over. He carefully wrote on it, aware of how the hand twitched underneath it. He finished it off with a small heart and let go of his hand, satisfied with his work.

Keith pulled his hand back, looking at it curiously before looking back at Lance. “My number. I’d love to hangout sometime.” His phone buzzed and he checked to see his alarm going off. “I’ve gotta go. But really, text me sometime and we’ll hangout.” Lance didn’t have time to wait for a reply for he darted out the door. He felt his phone buzz again, and he smiled when he pulled it out.

 _I’m free after 6 tomorrow if you wanna see a movie._ Lance’s heart swelled, and he couldn’t help the goofy smile he had. _I’ll pick you up here then._ Keith was quick to respond. _See you then :)_ Lance laughed a little to himself as he went to class. He was excited to see his barista boy tomorrow.


End file.
